ABSTRACT
The Puerto Rican economy had been declining for many years before Hurricane Maria devastated large parts of the Commonwealth. With this decline, the island’s relationship with the USA was increasingly questioned by many in Puerto Rico. The chapter shows how Puerto Rico’s current economic relationship with the USA is not working. It concludes by arguing that restarting Puerto Rico’s economy and putting it on a renewed trajectory of convergence will take more than the completion of the current debt restructuring process and the disbursement of already appropriated federal aid. It will require a fundamental rethinking of how Puerto Rico’s economy fits into the broader USA economy.
